Iraq Burns While Dems Fiddle

It is hard to overstate the arrogance and bellicosity of the congressional Democratic leadership. When they're not playing footsie with our enemies, they're savaging President Bush, gleefully naysaying every aspect of the Iraq war and harming the troops they pretend to protect.

Everywhere you turn, Democrats are working their partisan destruction.

Turn to the Washington Post and read about Sen. Joe Biden contradicting the administration and the military's claims that the "surge" in Iraq is producing dividends. Don't be misled, chides Biden. Don't dare focus on any good news coming out of Iraq that doesn't fit into our anti-Bush, anti-war template. Talk all you want about increased security in Baghdad, but the chaos on the city's periphery more than outweighs any gains we've made. The surge, says Biden, is doomed to fail.

Is it too harsh to infer that Biden and his ilk are rooting for failure in Iraq? If bad news doesn't immediately jump out at them, they redouble their efforts to find it, because bad news is their currency. It is their ticket to political power.

Next, turn to an entry from The Crypt's Blog on Politico.com, which reports that Sen. Harry Reid compared President Bush to the most vilified 20th century American president: Richard M. Nixon. Bush, said the quintessentially pugnacious Reid, is "as isolated" over the Iraq war as Nixon was over Watergate.

Note that this is in keeping with the Dems' template on the Iraq issue. To them, it's not just a policy dispute over the prosecution and conduct of the war, but a scandal. To them, Bush's entire initiation and management of the war is criminal. That's the point Reid is attempting to reinforce with his Nixon reference. Nixon became isolated on Watergate because of his own misconduct. Bush is hunkered down in his White House bunker alone because of his supposed misconduct. Don't miss the intended imagery.

Yet there is no evidence of misconduct by Bush on the war — no amount of shouting and repetition can change that. And he is not isolated, though at times it seems he is the only one with the requisite courage to make the difficult calls on Iraq. Don't forget that the appeasement party still lacks the votes to outright eliminate funding for the war.

Though Bush isn't isolated, he has been ceaselessly slandered and rebuffed by this militant opposition party.

Recently, he invited these obstructionists to the White House to discuss their gamesmanship over the supplemental funding bill to support our troops in Iraq. Trying to be cute, they snubbed him and demanded he come to their turf instead.

Their puerile petulance is one thing, but we are talking about an area over which the president is primarily in charge: foreign policy. This means it is incumbent on them to come to the White House to discuss the matter. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote, "The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external affairs, and its sole representative with foreign nations.… The [executive] department is entrusted with the whole foreign intercourse of the nation."

But these Democrats will not honor protocol, will not play by the rules and will not respect their constitutional role, even though their abominable behavior guarantees negative consequences to our national security and fighting forces.

If you doubt the welfare of the troops depends on this funding, read Defense Secretary Robert Gates' letter to Sen. Robert Byrd — courtesy of Jed Babbin at Human Events — addressing the indispensability of congressional action on the supplemental funding bill.

Without the supplemental, according to Gates, the Army will soon begin: "reducing Army quality of life initiatives … reducing the repair and maintenance of equipment necessary for deployment training … [and] curtailing the training of Army Guard and Reserve units within the U.S., reducing their readiness levels."

Gates says the Army will also begin "reducing the pace of equipment overhaul work at Army depots … curtailing training rotations for Brigade Combat Teams currently scheduled for overseas deployment, [which] would likely require the further extension of currently deployed forces … [and delay] acceleration of additional modularized Army brigades necessary to expand the Army unit rotational pool and reduce the stress on existing units."

Meanwhile, Harry Reid fiddles, the globe-trotting Nancy Pelosi flouts presidential authority and the Logan Act, Sen. Biden waxes negative and Sen. Byrd exhorts all of these charlatans to ratchet up their mischief.

If I were not actually witnessing this spectacle unfold before our eyes, I wouldn't believe it.

To find out more about David Limbaugh, please visit his Web site at www.davidlimbaugh.com. And to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.